The Shenandoah County Planning Commission recommended approval Thursday of a rifle-assembly business on Cullers Lane, near Strasburg, after adding a condition to prohibit any test-firing of rifles on the property, a compromise aimed at addressing concerns from nearby residents.

Ross Bethune, of 177 Cullers Lane, sought a special use permit to operate a precision rifle design and assembly business from an existing outbuilding on their 4.6-acre A-1 Agriculture property. Bethune said the work focuses on long-range precision rifles and involves assembly and sales, not on-site testing.

“There’s no place on my property where it’s safe to shoot a hundred-yard rifle,” Bethune told the commission, noting that firing would occur only at off-site ranges.

Two neighbors present on Thursday, however,

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